


Strange Encounters

by lex_evetta



Series: Destined to End up in This Place [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- No Powers, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, Near Death Experiences, Oblivious Tony Stark, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:45:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6951358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lex_evetta/pseuds/lex_evetta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark is a busy guy. </p><p>Bucky Barnes does not see this as a valid excuse for his behavior, thank you very much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Encounters

Tony Stark had never had a problem owning up to things. He was a man of many talents and many faults and he never shied away from the cold, hard, honest truth- within reason, that is.

Therefore, Tony could readily admit that maybe he could have afforded a smidgen of attention to his surroundings every once in a while rather than frantically swiping away at his tablet. Maybe focusing intently on the schematics sent over from R&D in an effort to improve his designs before some knucklehead grad student decided to rush order them was a slight mistake. He couldn’t really be blamed for the fact that his grad cadets were overeager little geniuses who had a pension for putting the cart before the horse. What was he there for anyway, if not to rein in his overachieving recruits?

In short, it may or may not be advisable for Tony to become so fully immersed in his work in the middle of a terribly bustling intersection.

One could surmise as much given that the usual busy yet orderly, incessant thrum of New York suddenly shifted into a frenzied whirlwind of honking, shouting, and (just Tony’s luck) an intimate meeting between Tony’s shoulders and what felt like an aluminum baseball bat. With the ability to grasp like a motherfucker. Since when did inanimate objects evolve vestigial grasping mechanisms anyway? That seemed like something Tony would’ve heard about at some point or another, but apparently he was woefully mistaken.

Dazedly, Tony looked up to see an obnoxiously emblazoned Hummer come barreling towards him with seemingly no intention of stopping any time soon.

Now, Tony was no stranger to dying. He’d stared death in the face on far more occasions than he thought was strictly necessary or healthy, for that matter. Despite his close acquaintance with death, Tony wasn’t really all that partial to dying. Especially at the hands of someone with the gall to paint a paisley printed monstrosity along the hood of their damn Hummer. With what seemed to be flames meticulously painted throughout the design, to Tony’s utter disgust.

In any case, the evolved bit of rebar shoved Tony away harshly and he found himself surrounded by impenetrable blackness that seemed to be covering an overly muscular set of pecs that, were the circumstances less dire, would have been subjected to a little bit of leering on Tony’s part.

Belatedly, Tony realized that the muscular form cradling his head seemed to be attached to a frenzied voice.

Tony pulled away from the man, only to be held in place by his shoulders. “Really appreciate the help there. Mind if I just-". Tony attempted a hasty sidestep, but was met with some resistance.

The other man snapped out of his yelling match with the car that continued to speed down the street and past another red light. He finally focused his attention on Tony, allowing the genius to take in his chiseled cheekbones- softened only by the bit of scruff he’d allowed to grow there, the soft tendrils of hair escaping the messy bun piled atop his head, and most strikingly, the overly expressive icy eyes that were turning their indignant anger in Tony’s direction.

“What the fuck were you doin’?” Tony’s vocal savior released him in favor of gesticulating wildly with his hands above his head, a slight accent roughening his tone further.

Tony quirked an eyebrow, unconsciously taking a hesitant step backwards. “Uh, excuse me?”

“You can’t just walk around with your damn head glued to a screen.” The man exclaimed, eyes widening in further exasperation. “You could’ve died.” He added shortly, lifting a hand to swipe over his face and brush some of the dark strands that had undoubtedly escaped in his endeavor to save Tony’s life.

Tony smiled apprehensively. “But I didn’t. Because you saved me. Again, thanks for that. I totally appreciate it.” Tony wagged his finger at the man jauntily. “As a matter of fact, allow me to repay you by buying you coffee?”

The man only stared at Tony in disbelief as if he couldn’t quite believe the man before him was even real. He shook his head, brow furrowing as if trying to make sense of a complex equation.

Tony continued, unperturbed. “Or… lunch? How about this?” He held up the device in his hands, allowing his smile to brighten in hopes of soothing the grumpy man before him. “It’s a prototype- one of a kind. Probably won’t even hit markets so, it’s pretty unique and worth a small fortune.”

Tony waited patiently for the man to respond before continuing. He pointed to himself. “Since it seems I have the floor, I’m Tony.” He allowed himself to give the man before him a quick once over before extending his hand. “And may I just say, the pleasure’s all mine.” He finished it off with his press-ready smile.

The man shook his hand mostly out of instinct. “I’m James. And just so I’m clear, all I want is for you to not die because you’re an idiot.” The man- James- rolled his eyes at Tony, seeming to calm down a bit. “You can keep your little toy since it’s apparently more important than your own damn life.” The corner of James’s mouth quirked ever so slightly in what appeared to be begrudging amusement.

Tony visibly relaxed at having the man at least respond to him in a less than accusatory manner, regardless of his actual words. “Why James, I didn’t know you cared. I’m flattered.” He replied cheekily.

James huffed. “Yeah, well despite the whole idiot punk thing you got going on, you’re too cute to die anyhow.” Tony thought he detected a stronger hint of the man’s Brooklyn accent now and was slightly, just barely intrigued at that prospect. He also may have slightly, just barely held James’s hand in his own for just a beat longer than necessary, but that was really a two-way street to be fair.

Tony quirked a brow in down-played interest, stepping towards James who was visibly flushing as he realized what he’d let slip.

“Does that mean a coffee would interest you, oh savior of mine?” Tony decided then and there not to get his hopes up, but couldn’t resist testing the waters. James was intriguing to say the least and Tony would kick himself later if he didn’t at least try.

James paused as he seemed to take a moment to consider Tony’s offer. When Tony made a point of looking across the street in feigned nonchalance, James finally relented. “I suppose I could be swayed.” He shrugged, his lips slowly falling into a mischievous smirk. “Maybe you could enlighten me as to what you were doin’ on that thing that’s obviously so very important?” He raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“And maybe you can get around to telling me your real name?” Tony shrugged his shoulders offhandedly as James frowned a bit. “I mean come on, no one named James actually goes by James. It’s the unspoken edict of being a James, after all.” Tony nodded conspiratorially at the other man as he stepped out of the way of a particularly intense passerby. Huh, he hadn’t realized that they were probably becoming a real nuisance to everyone around them by standing around like that.

“I can let you in on that little secret now if you want?” James didn’t seem able to resist Tony’s excited gaze.

“Give me your phone?” James lifted a hand to swipe his hair out of his face, the arm glimmering unnaturally in the light bouncing off of the storefront beside them. Tony managed to quickly divert his attention to the prosthetic before offering a grin to James.

Tony spared James another appraising look before fishing his phone out of his pocket and unlocking it for the other man. James took his time in entering his information before returning the device to Tony, left-handed i.e. metal-handed. So maybe Tony wasn’t as covert as he’d thought.

“My friends usually call me Bucky more often than not.” James provided in explanation with a halfhearted shrug, pointedly not mentioning his prosthetic as if in challenge.

Tony glanced at his phone. “Your parents named you James Buchanan? That is all kinds of bizarre.” Tony shook his head in disbelief, but the blow was lessened considerably by the bright (far more genuine grin) that he graced Bucky with, which seemed to set the other man at ease.

“Yeah well, I wasn’t really able to offer up my thoughts on the matter at the time.” Bucky responded cheekily. “Just a tad occupied.”

“Point.” Tony conceded easily. “Hey, look, I have to stop in at work for a bit, but I’m free after seven. You up for dinner or want to try coffee first? I have zero qualms with night coffee, but some people have this unfathomable aversion to such practices. Totally understand if you fall into that last, rather common camp, by the way.” Tony rushed through his question because damn it if Bucky’s eyes weren’t seemingly sapping all of Tony’s reservations out at an alarming rate.

“Sure. I should be finished up at the garage by then. I’ll probably be starving so dinner sounds good to me.” Bucky’s smirk sharpened with mirth and, unfortunately, Tony’s phone decided to interrupt his appreciation of said smirk at that precise moment.

Tony glanced at his phone in annoyance and found himself unable to ignore his impending eye roll as he started backing away. “Okay, I have to take this and hurry back to work, but do not think I won’t bring up this garage business because hello, cars, engineering, design? I could go on for days, Buckaroo.

Bucky chuckled lightly and nodded at the other man. “I look forward to it. Just make sure you actually survive your walk, yeah?” He prompted pointedly and gestured vaguely behind Tony.

Tony nodded and found himself gesturing towards his own head in return. “I should probably turn around and actually pay attention to my surroundings, yadda yadda. I get it, smartass.” Tony flashed the other man a quick grin before moving to return his call and start back on his trek to the office.

It was obvious that Bucky couldn’t quite decide what to make of the hot mess of a man weaving haphazardly through traffic before him, but he couldn’t be too bothered because he had every intention of taking his sweet time figuring him out. Besides, someone had to stick around to make sure the attractive idiot didn’t wind up dead from his own ridiculous nature.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave any feedback you may have!
> 
> Also, come visit me on my brand new [tumblr.](http://lex-evetta.tumblr.com)


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